The goal of the University of California San Diego (UCSD) Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (SSPPS) Predoctoral Research Training in Maternal and Pediatric Pharmacology is to provide an integrated educational and practical mentored short-term pediatric research training experience for predoctoral students in the Health Sciences (Pharmacy and Medicine). Our goal is to provide interested Students with carefully selected mentors and focused projects to allow for productive 12 week experiences. Further, this Training Program seeks to foster interest in the combined Pharm.D./Ph.D. dual degree program. Research carried out by Training Grant faculty extends from computational analysis of molecular structures, to cellular and molecular pharmacology, to human subjects clinical research, to pharmacoeconomics and health services outcomes research, and into research of educational programs and dissemination/implementation of pharmacy practice research. Within this broad sphere of research activity are strong underlying themes in innovative drug discovery and drug development, and improved and innovative therapeutic uses of drugs in pediatric and adult populations. Training Faculty will promote these short-term research training opportunities, and guide pharmacy and medical students towards projects of interest. The student will submit a written proposal, which will serve as the basis of the application. Applications will be reviewed and ranked by Training Program faculty, and 5 trainees will be selected in the first year of this program, increasing to 10 trainees at steady-state. During the 12-week, summer experience, all trainees will meet as a group with the Training Program faculty for a weekly Pediatric Topics seminar where the students can become familiar with pediatric pharmacotherapy topics, present their progress on the research projects, and seek assistance from peers and the Leadership Core faculty. At the conclusion of the short-term research training experience, the students will be required to participate in the Fall Quarter Research Forum at UCSD. Students will also be encouraged to submit their projects for peer review and presentation at national scientific meetings, and for publication in a biomedical journal. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE (See instructions): Trainees learn basic and clinical science and do cutting edge research that leads to an understanding of how the drug discovery and development processes work, how to improve patient and healthcare outcomes, how to increase cost-effectiveness of therapy, and how to improve medication safety in vulnerable populations.